Malazan: Book of the Fallen

It's probably my favorite modern fantasy series that's actually finished. But it's a very love it or hate it series for most. The world building is among the best ever.

its my favorite, it is a difficult read - much moreso than most fantasy - but is completely unique and rewarding. Its even better on the re-read when you actually have a clue what is going on. I would recommend taking breaks though instead of trying to read all 10 in a row. The books are somewhat grouped so i think there is a natural pausing point before Midnight Tides as well as before Toll The Hounds.

Currently about 400 pages into toll the hounds on my re-read

Everyone is lost at the beginning. You just get dropped into the action and it unfolds beneath you. Not a lot of exposition of who / what race these people are, how the magic works, etc. and you are fed little tidbits throughout the story and piece it together as you go along. That is why i said it is even better on the re-read once you know what is going on.

I've never done audiobooks but if you can pay attention to what is going on with them, i don't see why it would be a problem. It is a challenging read, i would find myself having to go back and read the same pages couple times to understand what they are saying. The author was like an archaeologist so the narrative doesn't flow as smoothly as many books. As someone said it is an incredible worldbuilding book, and very well put together, if you are into that kind of thing i would certainly give it a shot.

Books 2 and 3 are some of my all time favorites from any series in the genre.

well the second half of his books are almost always incredible, with a lot of build out to start out and then the final portions are very fast paced as all of the stories converge. That is generally the model of all of the books. The hard part i though was (1) the challenging nature of the writing, very philosophical at some points which many don't like and (2) how nothing is really explained in real time - i didn't know what or who these characters were until i was well into the series.

If you don't like the excitement at the ending of Book 1 you should put down the series probably, but if its just because you don't know exactly what happened or how it happened then keep on going because it all gets explained throughout. I went back and read the ending of Book 1 after i was halfway through the series and figured out what all of the races and things were and everything became a lot more clear.

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well the second half of his books are almost always incredible, with a lot of build out to start out and then the final portions are very fast paced as all of the stories converge. That is generally the model of all of the books.

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Too be fair though, the first book is the worst of the series by far in terms of this, with even the ending having a bit of WTF, who the heck are these guys type stuff going on.

Thanks for that.


I'm currently on a GoT re"read". So I'll start these after I'm done or if I need a break.


I really like re-listening to books/series so I'll give these a shot especially if you say it's normal to be lost at first while reading. That's one of the most daunting things about picking up a new series to listen to.

I read the first 8 and listened to the last two on audio.

Definitely need to read them. So many characters and you may go a book or two between them being reintroduced. They're great reads though.

I just finished the first two books. The ending of the first is okay.


The ending of the second is phenomanal.

Just started Memories of Ice today